The Fiscal Cliff is not a nickname for a smart-spending mailman on Cheers. It is the conundrum that the U.S. government will face at the end of 2012, when the terms of the Budget Control Act of 2011 are scheduled to go into effect.

Laws set to change are the end of last year’s temporary payroll tax cuts (resulting in a 2% tax increase for workers), the end of certain tax breaks for businesses, shifts in the alternative minimum tax, the end of the Bush tax cuts for the richest 2%, and the beginning of taxes related to President Obama’s health care law.

Not only would taxes increase but "deep, automatic cuts" would be applied to over 1,000 government programs - including Medicare and the defense budget, according to Barron's.

In other words, all American people would be taxed more and key programs would not receive proper funding. It's a scenario that neither Democrats or Republicans want. It's a byproduct of four years of gridlock between the President and Congress. It's a potentially catastrophic scneario for the American economy - which is just beginning to recover." [link to communities.washingtontimes.com]